New York State Tourism Conference

April 26, 2019

New York State Division of Tourism

1

NEW YORK STATE’SCOMMITMENT TO TOURISM

2

$0

$10,000,000

$20,000,000

$30,000,000

$40,000,000

$50,000,000

$60,000,000

$70,000,000

2010 2013 2016 2018

State Tourism Investment

2010 - 2018

Prior Administration Current Administration

I LOVE NY INITIATIVES

3

Marketing

▪ Advertising

▪ Public Relations

▪ Experiential Marketing & Events

▪ Digital Initiatives

▪ Segment Marketing

▪ Consumer Travel Tools

▪ Strategic Partnerships

International Sales & Marketing

▪ Sales Activities

▪ Trade Shows

▪ Brand USA

Program & Policy Development

▪ Senior Program

▪ Accessibility Program

Industry Support

▪ New York Times Travel Show

▪ Funding Opportunities

4

ADVERTISING

5

I LOVE NY STRATEGY

I LOVE NY works to:

▪ Build consideration and visitation to New York State by showcasing the unique,

world-class destinations that Upstate New York offers

▪ Convey the emotional value of family memories created in New York State

▪ Drive information-seeking behavior to iloveny.com, TPAs and tourism partners

FIND WHAT YOU LOVE CAMPAIGN

7

▪ Refreshed “Find What You Love” campaign, builds on iconic heart logo

▪ Focused on highlighting world-class attractions in New York State

▪ Complemented with images of creating memories with loved ones

▪ Target market remains the same: families in 5-hour drive radius

TELEVISION COMMERCIALS: SUMMER

8

TELEVISION COMMERCIALS: FALL

9

TELEVISION COMMERCIALS: WINTER

10

OUT-OF-HOME ADVERTISING

11

PUBLIC RELATIONS

12

The National Comedy Center is an Unlikely Attraction

That’s Putting Western New York Back on the Map

OVERVIEW

▪ Focus on changing face of the tourism landscape in

New York State

▪ Various storylines have driven interest from the media:

❑ Recent hotel openings like Chautauqua Harbor

Hotel, Eastwind, Resorts World and YO1

❑ Unprecedented growth of craft beverage

industry

▪ Overall increase in story placements, quality publications and quality of media attendance at

events

MEDIA RELATIONS HIGHLIGHTS

Top Places to Go in 2019

New York State Winter Travel National Comedy Center Opening

Media Appointments Deskside Interviews

2018 MEDIA EVENTS

Summer

▪ Attractions, activities &

craft beverages

▪ 72 media attended

Winter

▪ Winter sports & family travel

▪ 87 media attended with

34 new attendees

Fall

▪ Fall Harvest & Foodie Fest

▪ 42 media & coverage of

event itself

2018 PRESS TRIPS

▪ Individual press trips across state highlighted new attractions

and lodging

▪ Group trips

❑ Skiing in the Catskills

❑ Macaroni Kid trips to Chautauqua-Allegheny & the Adirondacks

❑ Long Island FAM for Belmont Stakes

▪ TBEX post-FAM trips cover the entire state

❑ Two hosted by Visit Rochester

❑ Seven hosted by I LOVE NY and Break the Ice Media

EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING & EVENTS

17

I LOVE NY POD TOUR

18

Tour Stops

▪ Added second touring Pod to extend reach

▪ Stopped at 39 major events both in-state & out-of-state

▪ Attended 21 new events

▪ 46% of tour stops were previously successful events

▪ Added events to support state tourism initiatives

Pod Improvements

▪ Redesigned interiors to include VR & GIF activations

▪ Updated digital content across all 5 apps

▪ Design enhancements to improve user experience

I LOVE NY POD TOUR

19

I LOVE NY EXPERIENCE AT GREAT NEW YORK STATE FAIR

20

I LOVE NY EXPERIENCE AT GREAT NEW YORK STATE FAIR

21

▪ Transformed 25,000 sq. ft. space in

Expo Center into engaging

experience that promotes tourism

▪ “All Year, All Here” theme with four

season vignette stations

▪ Built ‘Tree of Seasons’ as central

anchor for footprint design

▪ Incorporated massive video walls to

promote world-class state attractions

▪ Utilized ILNY Pod to provide

engaging, fun and informative

content

▪ Partnered with various state

agencies to include related

activations

WELCOME CENTERS

22

HOLD FOR VIDEO

WELCOME CENTERS

23

▪ Opened final six of 11 Welcome Centers

▪ Each celebrates its local region, promoting

attractions as well as food & beverage and

agritourism destinations

▪ Elements include:

OPENED SCHEDULE

❑ Interactive digital kiosks

❑ Video wall

❑ Artifacts exhibit

❑ Floor map of attractions

❑ Taste NY market/store

❑ Walk of Fame

❑ I LOVE NY Selfie Wall

❑ Life-sized I LOVE NY Sculpture

❑ Outdoor play area

❑ Outdoor pet comfort area

❑ Community room*

❑ DMV kiosk*

*In some locations

Long Island – opened Fall 2016

Javits Center – opened Spring 2017

Mohawk Valley – opened Spring 2017

Southern Tier – opened Fall 2017

Central NY (Destiny USA) – opened Fall 2017

Finger Lakes – opened Spring 2018

Hudson Valley/Catskills – opened Fall 2018

Western NY – opened Fall 2018

Adirondacks – opened Fall 2018

Capital Region – opened Fall 2018

North Country – opened Fall 2018

Welcome Center

Opening Dates

DIGITAL

24

EDITORIAL AND SOCIAL MEDIA

25

Website & Blog Posts

▪ Increased page views & time spent on pages

▪ Launched redesigned listings widgets

User Generated Content

▪ High engagements on iloveny.com pages

Social Media

▪ 56 Instagram stories with high number of views,

retention rate & swipe-ups to website

▪ Wibbitz partnership to produce social-first videos

WIBBITZ SOCIAL SLIDESHOW

26

I LOVE NY BRACKET CHALLENGE

27

▪ 16 attractions faced off

in four rounds of voting

▪ Partnered with JetBlue

and TPAs for free trip

sweepstakes to New York

State

▪ Drove increased

visitation to iloveny.com

▪ Collected new email

subscribers

▪ 2019 Winner:

Maid of the Mist

?

INSTAGRAM STORIES GO INTERACTIVE

28

THE BUCKET LIST FAMILY INFLUENCER CAMPAIGN

29

▪ Sent The Bucket List Family to experience a

summer trip in the Adirondacks

▪ Saw positive sentiment in real time and

interest in future travel to NY

▪ Surpassed industry performance

benchmark for influencers

@izzy abbott1

Want to plan a trip

there

@themircotourists

It is on our bucket list

to go here in the fall.

It would be awesome

to catch the trees

changing colors.

NEW MOBILE APP FEATURES

30

Replaced basic “Concierge”

questionnaire with innovative

“Discover NY” swipe function to

connect users with things to do

based on their specific interests.

Virtual Reality Editorial ContentDiscover NY

Integrated cutting-edge

technology of Virtual Reality

with 6 unique experiences in

New York State.

Implemented editorial

content with more than 60

pieces of live content,

tagged by region and

interest.

Email Collection

Launched email collection

integration.

TOURISM SEGMENTS

31

PATH THROUGH HISTORY WEEKENDS

▪ Continued Columbus Day Weekend (fall) in addition to Father’s Day Weekend (spring)

▪ Redesigned brochure and collateral

▪ Produced lawn signs to assist with wayfinding

▪ Distributed branded stickers to assist with attendance & program promotion

▪ Engaged in paid digital advertising for first time

▪ Participation grown 125% from 2014 to 2018

▪ 13% increase in total event hosts YOY

▪ 1.2 Million impressions from paid digital advertising

▪ 52 of 62 counties participated in Spring

▪ 46 of 62 counties participated in Fall

OVERVIEW OF WORLDPRIDE EFFORTS

MEDIA

▪ Print and digital advertising in

strategic LGBTQ outlets

domestically & internationally

▪ Print & digital WorldPride travel

guide used at pride events

▪ Updated design & content of

iloveny.com/LGBT to reflect

WorldPride celebrations, events

& destinations

▪ WorldPride e-newsletter sent to

travelers who provided emails

at consumer events in 2018

EXPERIENTIAL

▪ Activated at key live consumer

and trade events domestically

and internationally

▪ Partnered with Heritage of

Pride/NYC Pride to open an

LGBTQ Welcome Center in the

West Village

PR

▪ Co-hosted LGBTQ Media event

with Heritage of Pride in NYC

▪ Launched WorldPride

Ambassadors program

WORLDPRIDE ACTIVATIONS

▪ Launched two mobile experiences with

digital activations

▪ Experiences included NYS travel profile

quizzes and VR & staffed by a team of

brand ambassadors

▪ Strategy to reach long-haul travelers

interested or planning to attend WorldPride

▪ Tour included 13 stops — 8 domestic & 5

international

▪ Emphasis on attending largest LGBTQ

focused events in the world – Berlin, San

Diego, Miami, Atlanta, etc.

▪ Collected more than 5,300 emails

▪ Total reach of more than 7 million

WORLDPRIDE DIGITAL MEDIA PLAN

WORLDPRIDE PR RESULTS

37

IN-MARKET SALES & PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES

▪ Offices in China, UK, Canada, Germany, and Australia

▪ Sales calls to in-market, outbound agents & operators

❑ New York State offered by 31 German Tour

Operators

▪ Conduct workshops and trainings for agents & operators

❑ 361 agents completed ILNY Online Travel Agent

Training Manual in UK

❑ In-house training for Hainan Airline staff

▪ Strategic partnerships to encourage increased visitation

❑ Partnership with Noble Outdoors led to Lantern

Festival bringing 600 new visitors to Orange County

FAM TRIPS

Travel Solutions Dublin & Belfast Ski FAM

▪ Hunter Mountain, Villa Vosilla and Woodbury Common

▪ 8 UK tour operators skied, shopped & toured lodging facilities

Australian FAM

▪ Tour operator FAM in partnership with Delta Airlines to

NYC/Upstate for 8 top selling Australia travel agents

▪ Led to 411 room nights booked

Post IPW FAM

▪ 9 Chinese agents visited the Catskills & Adirondacks

▪ Generated nearly 350 bookings of 2,100+ room nights and

almost $814,000 in sales

ROAD SHOWS & SALES MISSIONS

UK Sales Mission: September 18-21, 2018

▪ Five days in London, Peterborough and Manchester

Canada Road Show: November 27-29, 2018

▪ Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa

▪ Attended by 7 New York State destinations who met and gave presentations to

147 Canadian tour operators, travel agents and media representatives

Aer Lingus Road Show, Ireland: February 18-21, 2019

▪ “Taste of America” roadshow with Aer Lingus stopping in Belfast, Dublin, Limerick, Cork

▪ Engaged with 385 Irish agents

IPW Denver: May 19-23, 2018

▪ 139 trade & media appointments

▪ Product presentations from CNY, CONY,

Corning & Southern Finger Lakes, Discover

Saratoga, Dutchess Tourism, Visit Buffalo

Niagara, Visit Syracuse, Sullivan County, Visit

Rochester, Lake George

WTM London: November 5-7, 2018

▪ 53 trade and media appointments

▪ Product presentations from Discover Long

Island, CNY, Dutchess County, Wine Water &

Wonders

Holiday World Dublin: January 25-27, 2018

▪ 933 trade, 41,433 trade + public in attendance

TRADE SHOWS

ITB Berlin: March 6-8, 2019

▪ 42 trade and media appointments

▪ Product presentations from NYC & Company,

Dutchess County, Visit Niagara, Long Island,

Wine, Water & Wonders, and LEGOLAND

▪ 32 operators/media attended hosted breakfast

IMTM Tel Aviv: February 12-13, 2019

▪ Largest travel trade show in Mediterranean

▪ ILNY spoke at Welcoming Ceremony attended by

Mayor of Jerusalem, Israeli Ministry of Tourism officials,

Ministers of Tourism from around the world, press,

exhibitors and FAM groups

▪ I LOVE NY provided with booth space courtesy

of Jerusalem Development Authority

UK Winter 2018

▪ 460,000 print distribution

▪ 13,540 Google Display Travel Model clicks

▪ 13,808 Facebook Carousel clicks

▪ Expedia gross bookings up 71% & room nights up 123% in YOY 42 day booking period

Australia Spring 2018

▪ 450,000 print distribution

▪ 8,626 Google Display Travel Model clicks

▪ 11,416 Facebook Carousel clicks

▪ Expedia gross bookings up 7% & room nights up 7% in YOY 42 day booking period

BRAND USA CO-OP MARKETING PROGRAMS

Canada Spring 2018

▪ 350,000 print distribution

▪ 18,193 Google Display Travel Model clicks

▪ 13,540 Facebook Carousel clicks

▪ Expedia gross bookings up 129% & room nights up 127% in YOY 42 day booking period

China Spring 2018

▪ Broadcast TV Episodes: 287,604,789

▪ Video Vignettes: 854,994,000

▪ 159,300,000 Metro Stations

▪ 693,800,000 LCD In-Bus

▪ 1,894,000 Online Video

▪ 151,278 Print Impressions

▪ Social – Weibo, WeChat – 247,541

▪ Activation: 1,500 itineraries booked

▪ Gross Bookings: est. $9,000,000

▪ YOY increase of 50%

BRAND USA CO-OP MARKETING PROGRAMS

China Fall 2018

▪ New York State, Niagara Falls, Syracuse videos

▪ Video Plays: 3,508,768

▪ 6 news articles

▪ 6 social posts – 4,879,000 reads

▪ 88,442 engagements

▪ Platforms: Tencent QQ, Youku, Tudou, iQIYI

BRAND USA CO-OP MARKETING PROGRAMS

USA Discovery Program Launched

▪ Award-winning travel agent training site where agents can become accredited USA Specialists

▪ Over 30,000 Travel Agents have been certified on the USA Discovery Program

▪ Based on learning about the USA

▪ Read Up, Take a Quiz, Earn a Badge!

▪ Currently in UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, China, India

▪ Coming in 2018 in Mexico, South Korea, Germany and Canada

▪ Agents participating are eligible for MegaFam participation

▪ Airport integration

45

SENIOR TOURISM PROGRAM

46

▪ Program passed by the New York State

Legislature to encourage seniors to choose

New York State as their vacation

destination

▪ Collected information on Senior discounts

available at New York State Parks and

attractions

▪ Performing market research to best inform

how to expand currently available

information

▪ Working with state agency partners like

Office of the Aging and Parks, Recreation

& Historic Preservation to promote program

ACCESSIBLE TOURISM PROGRAM

47

▪ Goal to improve information available

about accessible travel in New York State

▪ Hired Open Doors Organization, a non-

profit specializing in accessibility in travel

and tourism

▪ ODO performing research on accessibility

market on national level and within

target market

▪ Developed set of criteria by which to

measure visitor experience for those with

varying abilities at different attractions

▪ Survey with criteria distributed to 250+

attractions in New York State

48

NEW YORK TIMES TRAVEL SHOW

49

▪ January 25-26 at the Javits Center

▪ ILNY has branded aisle for fifth straight year

▪ First year ILNY is an official sponsor

▪ Elevated brand exposure including show

signage and ads in NYT magazine,

newspaper and on show website

▪ Several speaking opportunities including panel representation and Facebook Live &

podcast interviews

▪ Most exhibitors to date with 19 NYS partners

participating

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

50

MATCHING FUNDS

51

▪ $4.5 million available to 62 counties

▪ Meant to assist with tourism efforts to

reach new market areas that

sustain/boost overnight visitation

▪ Initiated & Implemented Process

Improvement Program – Phase I

❑ Application Updates (simplifying

application process)

❑ Updated Forms (increased

transparency & accountability)

❑ Training Sessions

❑ Abridged Final Report Process

MARKET NEW YORK

52

Market New York Round 8

▪ $15 million in awards for direct investments to 60

projects including:

❑ Close to $7M for 46 marketing projects

❑ Close to $8M for 14 capital projects

❑ Up to $1.4M to support WorldPride/Stonewall 50

❑ Up to $1.7M for to support Agri-tourism Craft

Beverage projects

▪ Over $91.4 million awarded to 320 tourism projects

across the state through the overall REDC process

ROUND 8 SAMPLE AWARDED PROJECTS

53

▪ Glamping at Watkins Glen, Aprile Ventures LLC

▪ Buffalo Wing Trail Marketing Initiative, Visit Buffalo

▪ Hudson Valley Esports Invitational and Expo, MAAC

▪ LUMA Special Exhibitions, LUMA Projection Arts LLC

▪ Make Your Own Glass Expansion Project, Corning Museum of Glass

▪ Craft Brewing Exhibition & Signature Event: Hopsego, Farmers’ Museum

▪ Dove Art Trail Legacy Connector Project, Sullivan County Visitors Assoc.

▪ Professional Surfing Competition Long Island, World Surf League

▪ From Rivers to Rainbows WorldPride 2019, Niagara Tourism

TOURISM RESULTS

54

▪ New York State welcomed 243.8 million visitors in 2017

▪ Visitors generated 67.6 billion in direct spending in 2017 – $14 billion more than 2011

▪ New York State tourism generated $8.5 billion in state and local taxes in 2017

▪ Provided an average per-household savings of $1,172 in taxes

▪ Total economic impact of New York State tourism in 2017 was $108.7 billion

▪ Tourism is state’s third-largest private sector employer, supporting 950,300 jobs in 2017

$60 MILLION

investment in tourism in 2018

243.8MILLION

visitors to New York State in 2017

18%RISE

in Statewide visitation since 2011

LOOKING AHEAD

55

Advertising

▪ Continue “Find What You Love” with mix of OOH and commercial advertising

Public Relations

▪ Seek tourism attractions to host Media Nights and consider smaller niche event for targeted media

▪ Reorganize press released according to trends and topics instead of by region

▪ Fine tuning media pitches to showcase “hidden gems” like craft beverage and history attractions

Digital

▪ Make database listings more consistent and compelling to consumers

▪ Continue improving website usability and investing in top performing campaigns and editorial

▪ Explore new ways to reach our audience on social media – check out our new TripAdvisor profile!

▪ Implement partnership with CrowdRiff

▪ Create more digital-first video

LOOKING AHEAD

56

Experiential & Events

▪ ILNY Pod Tour to return with ~40 events and dedicated area for NYS travel conversations

▪ ILNY Experiences portal will migrate to main I LOVE NY website for seamless transition of recommendations

▪ Partnering with Ag & Markets to bolster and support marketing efforts for Welcome Centers

Segments

▪ Provide consumer-friendly accessible tourism information based on survey results

▪ Provide tourism stakeholders with best practices & guidelines to encourage better visitor experiences for

people with differing accessibility needs

▪ Continuation of popular Spring and Fall Path Through History Weekends

▪ PTH Weekend social media contest to promote the program and track attendance

Policy

▪ Reconvene the Tourism Interagency Taskforce

WORLDPRIDE STATEWIDE EVENT ANNOUNCEMENTS

57

• Herb Ritts: The Rock Portraits: April 2 - September 2

• Albany Symphony “Sing Out, New York!” May 28-June 2, June 6-9

• Pride on the Beach, June 21-23

• Pride on the Vines: June 25

• Picnic with the Roosevelts: A Human Rights Celebration: June 27

• Conversation with Bishop Gene Robinson & Judy Shepard: July 2

• Pride at the Falls: July 5

• Matteo Lane at the National Comedy Center: July 6

MARKET NEW YORK: ROUND 9

58

$15 Million for Tourism Projects

▪ $7 Million for Regional Tourism Marketing (working capital)

❑ Minimum requests of $50,000+ only

▪ $8 Million for Tourism Capital (construction/capital expenses)

❑ Minimum requests of $150,000+ only

▪ The following projects are encouraged:

❑ Projects that market/promote/showcase: unique,

world-class destinations; a broad array of activities;

and/or strength in creating family memories

❑ Projects that align with I LOVE NY initiatives such as: I

LOVE NY LGBT; Path Through History; Taste NY and

agritourism; and/or new special events

Visit www.iloveny.com/MarketNY for most recent information

FIND WHAT YOU LOVE